Realizing before it's too late
by cresentrose
Summary: ONESHOT. kagome sees inuyasha with kikyo and runs away. she finds herself in a bit of trouble when she confronts a youkai. will inuyasha save her and realize his mistake before it's too late? sucky at summaries, bad grammar. glossary at the end. plz R


Narrator's POV

As the sun was setting, Kagome set out to search for Inuyasha since dinner was almost ready. She decided to go to the Goshinboku since he usually goes there to relax. As she got closer to where she first saw him, she heard two people talking.

She hid behind a tree and peeked at who was talking. She started to regret coming when she saw Inuyasha talking with Kikyo. Even though she tried to run away, she was frozen in place. Then she saw Kikyo walking closer to Inuyasha until she was a few inches away.

"I will avenge your death Kikyo. I will kill that bastard Naraku if it's the last thing I do. I won't let him get away with what he's done. You can count on that," she heard Inuyasha say. Kikyo smiled a cold smile. She only stepped closer into his arms and wrapped her arms around him.

Kikyo looked up at Inuyasha and leaned forward. Kagome couldn't take it any more so she turned around and ran. She ran blindly through the forest, tears streaming down her face, until she came upon a clearing. She just collapsed there and hugged her knees to herself.

'Why must I put myself through this? It's not he'll ever choose me anyway. I'm just a substitute and a shard detector to him,' Kagome thought to herself. "Well well well. What do we have here?"

Inuyasha's POV

When Kikyo tried to kiss me, on instinct I turned my head. Even though I swore I would protect her and avenge her death, I realized that what I felt for her was just that of friendship. Nothing more, nothing less.

How I acted for her, all those years ago was based on my loneliness that wanted to be quenched. When I looked down and saw her first, I couldn't help but feel cold all of a sudden. Before either of us could say anything, I heard a rustling behind us.

When I turned around, I saw a flash of green and white. Then I caught a familiar scent. I realized that it was Kagome's but it was tainted with the salty scent of tears. When I turned around to go after her, Kikyo spoke to me in a cold voice.

"Will you leave me for my copy Inuyasha? Does that girl mean more to you than I?" I was about to blurt out "Of course I do! I love her!" but I stopped myself and stood wide-eyed. I don't know when it happened but right then I knew that I truly loved Kagome.

She was the first one who fully accepted who and what I was other than my mother. Sure, my friends accept me but Kagome is special. She is my koibito. When I realized that she saw me yet again with Kikyo, my heart started to ache.

I wanted to go to her but Kikyo got in my way. The ache in my heart intensified when it hit me that me going to see Kikyo was hurting Kagome. I was about to leap away from her and go after Kagome when she smiled at me.

"Come now Inuyasha. Surely, you don't intend to go after that nuisance of a girl. After all, today is the day I've been waiting for," Kikyo said. I felt shivers go up my spine and I knew that I wasn't going to like what I was going to hear. "And what day would that be," I said.

Kikyo just smirked at me and said in a strange voice. "The day I finally bring you to hell with me," she said.

Kagome's POV

I looked up to see a boar youkai leering down at me from a close distance. I saw that he had a shikon no kakera embedded in his neck and I slowly got up. Normally I wouldn't be so worried but now that I was unarmed and alone, I started to panic.

"What's a pretty girl like you doing all by herself in the forest? And what's this? You have shikon no kakera? Why don't you just gives those to me and I'll let you live," he said wickedly. I clutched the bottle that contained the shikon no kakera and turned around to run.

I could hear the youkai laughing and saying running away was futile but I only ran faster. My breathing was getting hitched but I knew if I stopped now, I would be a goner. No sooner had those thoughts crossed my mind, I felt myself stumble and fall.

I cursed myself for being so clumsy and braced myself. As I got up and turned around, I saw that the youkai had caught up and looked like he wasn't exhausted like I was. As he advanced closer to me, only one name came to my mind and I screamed it as loud as I could. "INUYASHA!"

Narrator's POV

Inuyasha looked at Kikyo with a funny look on his face as if he was going to be sick. Kikyo noticed this and said with malice, "What is wrong Inuyasha? You said you wanted to make up for my being killed. Are you going back on your word?"

It looked like Inuyasha was having a hard time responding to Kikyo's taunts before he looked her straight in the eyes. He said with conviction, "I did say that I wanted to make up for you being killed but I _never_ said that I would go to hell with you Kikyo."

"Why do you want to bring me to hell when I still haven't killed Naraku? It's not just my fault that you died wench. You didn't have enough trust in me either and that's why you're now a walking clay pot! Why don't you go to hell by yourself," Inuyasha growled menacingly.

Before Kikyo could respond, there was a loud scream and Inuyasha tensed when he realized that it was Kagome's voice. Without a second thought, Inuyasha bounded through the trees to where he heard her voice.

When Inuyasha finally found Kagome's scent, he felt relief but it was quickly replaced by vehemence when he also smelled the youkai's scent. He ran faster and there he saw them. He saw his precious Kagome being choked by a boar youkai and that's where he saw red.

He saw that Kagome was trying to dislodge the hands of her throat but it seemed futile. In one of the youkai's arms was a stick protruding out of his arm. Without a second thought, Inuyasha ran up to them and yelled "sankontessou."

A few minutes before (Kag's POV)

I looked around me and only found a stick. I picked it up and I heard the youkai starting to laugh. "Hahahahaha. What do you think you're going to do with that, little girl? Throw it at me and hope I'll go away?"

He grinned heartlessly at me and ran up to me. I don't know what happened next but the next thing I knew, I heard him scream and pain, the stick was in his arm, and I was being choked to death. I tried to free myself but he was too strong. Right before I blacked out, I saw a flash of red and remember falling backwards.

Inuyasha's POV

I sliced through one of the youkai's arms with my claws and caught Kagome before she could hit the ground. I saw that she was unconscious and I felt my anger growing higher when I saw the bruises on her skin.

I wasn't paying attention to the youkai because he was bawling like a baby about his arm but when I heard him running toward me, that's when I jumped out of the way with my koishii in my arms. I landed a safe distance away and set Kagome down.

I turned to the youkai and sheathed out tetsusaiga. Before that asshole could even blink, I yelled out "kaze no kizu" and he was incinerated. I turned around, picked up Kagome, and saw her tear streaked face. I felt my ache clench in pain.

I dropped my head and my buried it in her hair. I inhaled her scent and whispered in her ear. Even though she couldn't hear me, I said, "Gomen nasai, tenshi. Watashi wa baka yarou." With that, I leapt in the air and headed for the Goshinboku.

Kagome's POV

As I slowly woke up, I found myself wrapped in Inuyasha's arms and I couldn't help but snuggle up closer to him. When he looked down at me, he seemed surprised and I could have sworn I saw ardor in his eyes.

When we came to a stop, I saw that we were at the Goshinboku, where everything first started. And there was Kikyo with a livid look on her face. 'Great. Just what I need right now. To see Kikyo finally succeed in bringing Inuyasha to hell with her.'

I started to struggle in his arms but he just tightened his grip on me. When I looked up at his face, his expression was blank and I started to get nervous. He set me down and when I turned around to leave, I felt him grab my wrist.

I looked at him confused and when I looked at Kikyo, I gulped because her face scrunched up even more and she was looking at us with slit eyes. Though I felt a little scared, I couldn't help laugh inwardly because she looked like a wrinkled, dried up old hag (imagine how Tsubaki looked when we first saw her).

Narrator's POV

"I see you brought along my copy with you Inuyasha. Have you finally come to your senses and decided to come with me to hell?" Kikyo asked. Kikyo walked up to him when he didn't respond and touched his arm. Inuyasha pulled back his as if he was burnt.

Kagome was watching all of this with wide eyes and when she saw Kikyo's face, it seemed her expression changed to her usual cold, indifferent mask. When Kagome looked closer, she saw in Kikyo's eyes agonizing pain before it quickly dissipated.

Kagome looked at Kikyo with pity but it was replaced with fear when Kikyo's attention turned to her. "You. What did you do to him?" Kikyo said while pointing a finger at Kagome. When Kikyo tried to lunge at Kagome, Kagome braced herself for the impact and closed her eyes.

When she felt that nothing happened, she slowly opened her eyes to see Inuyasha in front of her and Kikyo sprawled on the floor. "What do you think you're doing Kikyo! Kagome has done nothing to you but save your sorry ass." Kikyo slowly got up and called to her shinidamachuu.

"This isn't over Inuyasha. You will go to hell with me and there's nothing you can do about it." With that said, Kikyo vanished into the night. When Inuyasha turned around to face Kagome, she quickly bent her head down to avoid eye contact.

She was surprised to feel his clawed hand lift her chin up and was mesmerized by his amber gaze. Before Kagome knew it, she was in his arms with his head nestled in the crook of her neck. His actions shocked yet thrilled her at the same time.

What he said next made her completely stand still. "Aishiteru Kagome," Inuyasha whispered in her ear. He stepped back from her and held her at arms length. He put his hand against her cheek. "I just wanted you to know that you were the first one other than my mother to fully accept who I was and befriend me."

"You shed tears for me and stuck by my side when I was being a jerk. You came back even when I pushed you away and you'll never know how much that means to me," Inuyasha said. When he saw that she had a glazed face, he thought she had rejected him.

'Of course she won't return my feelings. After all, I'm just a dirty hanyou,' he thought dejectedly. He turned around and started to walk away. When Kagome realized that Inuyasha's touch was gone, she snapped out of her daze.

When she saw him walking away, she yelled out his name. When Inuyasha turned around, he grunted in surprise when Kagome launched herself in his arms. What surprised him even more was her eyes when she looked up at him.

Her eyes transfixed him so much that he didn't notice when Kagome leaned up closer to him. Before he comprehend what was happening, she placed a soft, yet firm kiss on his lips. His eyes widened, but slowly closed when he wrapped his arms around her waist.

Kagome smiled in the kiss and wrapped her arms around his neck. When they broke apart, they were panting and Inuyasha laid his forehead against hers. They looked in each other's eyes and Kagome saw something she never saw before. Happiness.

She smiled and lifted her hand up to his ears. She tweaked them and said something Inuyasha thought no one would ever say to him since his mother died. "Inu-chan, watashi wa anata no koto aishitemasu," Kagome said lovingly. Inuyasha stood there speechless.

After a while, he said, "Honto desu ka?" Kagome smiled up at him with tears in her eyes. "Hai, honto desu." Kagome started laughing when Inuyasha picked her up and started swinging her around in circles. Inuyasha picked her up bridal style and started running through the trees.

Meanwhile, nearby in the bushes…

"Wai, kawaii desu. I knew those two would get together eventually," Sango said to her companions. Her smile instantly turned into a frown when she felt Miroku's hand on her. "Why did you have to ruin the moment by doing that houshi-sama?" she snapped at him.

Miroku only smiled and rubbed his cheek that hand a red hand print on it. "Why my dear Sango. I couldn't help myself, especially in this momentous turn of events," Miroku explained calmly. They continued to argue and Shippo only shook his head at them.

Fin

So, how was it? Should I try to make it longer? Tell me what you think!

Goshinboku-God tree

Shikon no kakera-jewel shard

Youkai-demon

Hanyou-half demon

Koibito-lover; sweetheart

Sankontessou-iron reaver soul stealer

Koishii-dear; beloved; darling

Kaze no kizu-wind scar

Gomen nasai, tenshi. Watashi wa baka yarou-I'm sorry, angel. I am a stupid bastard.

Tsubaki-dark priestess

Shinidamachuu-Kikyo's soul stealers

Aishiteru-I love you

Watashi wa anata no koto aishitemasu-longer version of "I love you"

Honto desu ka- really? (asking really)

Honto desu-really (stating really)

Kawaii-cute

Houshi-sama: monk


End file.
